Itail stripper



Oct. 18. 1927.

v c. F. SMITH NAIL STRIPPER Filed April 15, 1926 INVENTOR.

I afar/f5 F 5/77/26? BYWMWM 77% ATTORNEYS.

Patented Oct. 18, 1927.

UNITED STATES CHARLES E. SMITH,OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

NAIL STRIPPER.

Application filed April 15, 1926. Serial 110 102353.

This invention relates to a nail stripper wherein nails are placed in a hopper and are caused to travel therefrom through intermediately disposed means to nail tracks wherein they are aligned and assembled for Withdrawal. The present invention appertains to the type of nail stripper disclosed in United States Patent 1,051,282, granted to me January 21, 1913, and more particularly to the nail tracks. t

This invention contemplates a nail stripper comprising a chute from which nails disposed therein in a jumbled state slide to a runway or track, nails which are in proper position entering the track with heads uppermost. The nails are retained in the track in a. row ready for withdrawal by the workmen. To permit convenient and expeditious withdrawal of nails, an offset is provided intermediate the chute and the far end of the track. Such offset is preferably placed at the juncture of the chute and track. It is found advantageous to vary the size of the slots in thetracks to accommodate them to various sizes of nails. The primary object of this invention is to provide a novel form of nail track wherein an offset is provided which is not subject to nails becoming stuck therein and which is arranged for convenient and expeditious adjustment. It is usual to have a number of tracks. and it is another object of this invention to provide means of adjustment whereby the tracks may be adjusted by a single operation.

' These objects together with other objects and corresponding accomplishments are obtained by means of the embodiment of my invention illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

. Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a complete nail stripper; Fig. 2 is a. front elevation thereof; Fig. 3 is a section as seen on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1, a portion of the chute being broken out to show the offset in a nail track; and Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view showing a side elevation of the track and chute structure.

Referring more particularly to the drawing. a portable type of nail stripper is shown which may be folded and housed within a case. The case comprises a body A to which a cover B is hinged. Braces are indicated as a whole by C and maintain the cover in open position, the hopper, chute and tracks in working position The casing serves as a support for a hopper D, a chute E and tracks F. which are later described more in detail. The body A of the casing may be used to hold nails which are transferred to the hopper D and pass therefrom into the chute E from which they advance into the tracks F.

j The hopper is of box form, but open at the front. The rear wall thereof indicated by 5 has a bolt 6 extending therethrough and through an elongated hole in the cover B, there being a wing nut for securing the hopper to the cover. This provides for a detachable adjustable connection so that the hopper maybe raised and lowered within limits and detached for packing. The side walls 7 provide guards so that the hopper is in effect a chute. which, when mounted on the cover. is inclined toward the front. Thus, nails thrown upon the bottom Swill tend to move by gravity toward the front. A brace 9 secures the body A and the cover B in open position and has intermediate its ends a number of holes. There is a brace on each side of the ease. Pivotally secured to the sides of the hopper are brackets 10 which braces 9. V

The chute E is of box form open at the lower end. and comprises side walls and a bottom. The side walls are indicated by 13 and the end wall by 14. A rod 15 extends across the chute through ears depending from the side walls 7 and through openings in the side walls 13 of the chute. This pro vides for a pivotal connection of the chute to the hopper at the open end of the hopper so as to receive nails which. are discharged from the hopper. The bottom of the chute comprises a number of parallel troughs, in this instance three. Each trough comprises bottom walls 16 inclined downwardly toward open slots 17. These slots form nail slides, and are margined preferably by wire rods 18. It has been found convenient to make the chute of sheet metal and to solder the wires 18 thereto. The bottom walls are secured to the end wall 14 and are supported at the other end of the chute by suspension rods 19 which are passed through a bar 20 bridging the side walls of the chute. The nail slides each comprise a pair of parallel wires which extend to the end of the slots in the chute are turned laterally to form a swell and downwardly to form a return bend as indicated by 21 as best shown in Fig. 3 There is an S bend in each wire to a portion maybe secured by bolts 11to the One runner of each of the tracks on the same sides is secured to a support bar 25. The other wire of each runner is free of the bar 25, but secured to an adjustment rod 26. Rod 26 is threaded at one end as shown in Fig.

3 and mounted thereon is a knurled nut 27 disposed in a groove 28. By moving the nut upon the rod 26, the latter is moved longitudinally of the bar 25 and with it the runners on one side of each of the tracks. By turning the nut 27 the track slots may be adjusted so as to accommodate them to the various sizes of nails. Bar 25 has fingers at the ends indicated by 29 which may be disposed in selected openings in braces 9, whereby the position of the bar in the braces maybe adjusted and thereby the inclination of the chute E and runner F adjusted.

The case body A serves as a receptacle for nails. The workman picks a handful of nails from the case and drops them into the hopper D. He then taps the hopper to cause the nails to slide therefrom into the chute E whereupon they roll to the bottom of the troughs, the shanks eventually passing through the slots of the slideways and the heads remaining on the upper side. The

nails slide downwardly to the open end of: the chute, jumping the steps and disposing themselves in the tracks with the heads uppermost and in line. The nails slide downwardly in the tracks so as to fill the latter. The workman grasps a number of nails in this assembled relation in a track between his fingers and withdraws them through the step. The stripper is placed upon the work bench and after the workman has started, the vibration caused by hannnering will be suflicient to cause the nails to move downwardly in the hopper, chute and tracks. Some of the nails which do not right themselves will slide out of the chute and back into the case. The peculiar form of the steps and offsets in the tracks, prevents nails from becoming wedged therein and thereby punw turing and cutting the hands oi? the workman as he reaches to grasp nails for withdrawal.

What I claim is:

In a nail stripper, a chute, a nail track leading from said chute and proridcr'l with a downwardly and rcaruardly extending oilset portion intermediate its ends and 00111 prising a pair oi spaced apart runners, and outwardly bowed portions on said runners at said offset portion of the track to permit nails to be withdrawn from the track.

In witness that I claim the foregoing l. have hereunto subscribed my name this 2nd day of April, 1926.

CHARLES F. SMITH. 

